So, the campers were thinking of knocking on my door much earlier than 1:30 am as it turns out, but not for shelter; they wanted to invite me for a drink. Of course, I was lights out snoozing early, so I missed out on that social with the 4×4 club. I did get to know all of them through the weekend though, because I sat on my stoep for hours just staring at the river and the birds and the hills, and they would stop and chat on their way down to the water. Us campers are a friendly lot.
I had considered going off to do a bit of Midlands Meandering over the weekend, but I felt reasonably sure that my car wouldn’t make it up to the tar road after the soaking rains. When I arrived on Friday, Kevin said to drive slowly down to the River Cottage because the road was muddy and the cows had been walking along the road so it would be slippery. I tried to drive carefully, but what I ended up doing can only be described as car mud-surfing. The tyres had no grip at all, so the only thing I could do was try to steer my car so that it stayed on the road. It was a lot of fun! But mud-surfing uphill is probably not as much fun. I decided to stay put for a few days while the road dried a bit. It gave me the perfect excuse to just be still and to enjoy this gift of an oasis.
Today I took a walk along the grassy road that follows the river and there was the Not Full Moon high in the sky above the hills. Not broken after all. We all survived the week intact it seems. And maybe not just survived. I’m feeling a new energy in me that I haven’t felt in the longest time. I think years of stress, compounded by the lockdown, has exhausted me, but I’ve been the frog in the boiling water and didn’t realise how bad it had become. On the game drive in the Addo Elephant National Park the guide told us about the Kudu that can jump three metres straight up into the air from a standing position, and that’s the kind of energy I’m feeling right now. I am wondering now why a buck would need to jump vertically like that. Maybe it’s just the quickest way out of the boiling pot?
It’s really beautiful here. There was a moment late this afternoon when the river was so still it was like glass, and the light created a reflection effect on the river which made it very hard to differentiate the real trees and hills from their reflections. And then a bird dived into the water and caught a fish so heavy that the bird could hardly fly away with its supper. It looked a bit drunk, staggering across the sky. I felt a bit high, trying to make sense of the images of nature in front of me. I’m catching myself just sitting and staring and doing not much thinking. It’s such an amazing Zen feeling. It feels like I’ve stopped. I’m really glad that the storm brought me here, so that I could just stop.
I’m feeling a bit alone tonight, I must admit. The campsite was full of people and laughter all weekend and now that the 4×4 group have left, it’s really quiet. You know the kind of quiet where your ears ring and it almost hurts? Aaah, but I saw the cutest mother-daughter interaction today. This little 3 or so year old girl decided to play in a puddle of mud and sat in the puddle, splashing mud all over herself, giggling away. Her Mom wandered over and said “Are you having fun? Does the mud make you happy?” and then she took a pic of the little one and left her to carry on being happy. What a cool mom. Mud can be annoying but I’m starting to realise that mostly it is a lot of fun. Maybe I won’t feel that way tomorrow though, when I try to drive back up the hill.